Newcastle Hierarchy Have Betrayed The Club’s Lifeblood – The Fans

Written by Dr. Ed Harrison

1:47pm Sunday, May 8th, 2016

Commented 26 times

The Newcastle Board was put in place last summer after Newcastle only just avoided the drop on the last day of last season and while it’s still possible to do exactly the same thing this season – our luck may have run out.

And the fact that we couldn’t beat Aston Villa yesterday – who have nothing to play for and had lost the last 11 games in a row – means we may even deserve to be relegated.

And somebody should ask the Board how we were relegated after spending £82M on players this season – that’s not easy to do.

No other club has ever done that in Premier League history.

Lee Charnley and Mike Ashley It will all be very sad for the fans on Tyneside – who are the best in the business – but they have been ignored and marginalized for far too long by guys like Lee Charnley and owner Mike Ashley.

When Lee attends those Fans Forum meetings it’s like he treats the Forum reps as the enemy.

When a question comes in they refute the basis of the question.

And there are high level benign statements made that mean absolutely nothing when your read them – they have been so very carefully worded – it’s like they have been written by a robot.

Here’s an example from the last Fans Forum on 22nd February and how the questions asked are simply refuted:

Question – Paul Loughlin (PL): “With 12 games to go, is the club in a crisis?”

Answer – The club disagreed but understands its current league position and acknowledged it was very disappointing. The club explained that the squad’s recent training camp in La Manga, Spain, was designed to help find solutions on the pitch in the final 12 games of the season. The camp was wholly focused on training and recovery, as well as a game.

The club appreciates the work required to move up the table and remains confident that it will remain in the Premier League at the end of the season.

Question – David Maudlin (DM): “What is that belief based on?”

Answer – The club believes the quality in the squad and some of the team’s performances this season are positive indicators, but acknowledged that performances had not been consistent.

Question – Brian Parkin (BP): “Does the club have any plans in the event of relegation as far as season tickets are concerned? In the event of relegation, does the club intend to reimburse any fans on the direct debit scheme if they decide to cancel their season ticket?”

Answer – The club is confident of remaining in the Premier League and, as a result, has not discussed plans in such detail across the business at this stage.

When the top executive at a football club treats the fans as the enemy and will not face reality, there’s something terribly wrong at the club.

But we know the club is broken from top to bottom and once again those running the club have been so abysmal that we face another disastrous relegation in a short seven years.

They obviously learned absolutely nothing from last season.

We have had only two top 10 finishes in nine years with Mike Ashley – and one of those was 10th and we had one season spent down below – this will be a second one in the Championship next season.

So two top ten finishes in the PL in 10 years with Mike Ashley and we exceeded 50 points once.

Premier Season

Position

Number of Points

2007-2008

12

43

2008-2009

18

34 - relegated

2009-2010

1 (Championship)

102 - promoted

2010-2011

12

46

2011-2012

5

65

2012-2013

16

41

2013-2014

10

49

2014-2015

15

39

2015-2016

18

37 - relegated

2016-2017

1 - (Championship)

94 - promoted

2017-2018

16

29 - current status

# Championship * After 37 games played

Mike Ashley will not sell the club while it’s in the second tier and lose all that money, so we have to hope he will somehow convince Rafa Benitez to stay on – but that will not be an easy task.

Maybe if Rafa’s name is sung from the first minute to the end of the game next Sunday afternoon, he will get the message and want to stay?

It’s worth a try.

🙂

Newcastle need stability and have a lot of work to do this summer – but who’s capable and experienced enough to do that work – other than somebody like Rafa Benitez?

26 comments so far

The only way Ashley can redeem himself is not by “lending” the club more money but by charging SD Etihad style amounts for its advertising. Ashley said the cupboards were bare and I guess that the new TV deal was going to be any funds for transfers, that’s not there anymore so where’s the money coming from.

a lot of negativity on here today and justified after yesterdays performance but who saying everton cant do a villa on wednesday ?? i can see it , i can see the wheels falling off the sunderland lucky merry go round. If you think about it , we have had some horrendous decisions go against us in lots of games this season , not making excuses but just 1 of those disgusting decisions – notably the greatest off side in the history of the prem would have brought us another 2 points , on the other hand , the pen that never was for the scum against stoke gave them that vital point last week . Luck plays a big part when you are at the bottom , when you are at the top , you just get it, – thats how it is . weve had our fair share of the bad , the good mis just around the corner . starting wednesday

its sickening really,swansea,southampton,leicester,watford west ham,everton have all came up or have been up and appear to growing and moving forward,we already had the ground,the fans and the basis to do what they are trying to do well before they started and we have became an absolute laughing stock,where they have pushed on and competed….sad days really….hang your heads in shame, nufc board and owner.

stuart the fact its out of our hands is why its negative mate,and the fact that the unwashed can put us down is an added kick in the nuts,we all hope everton do us a favour,of course we do but they have been poor of late.

wolfshead same with watford tbh,can only hope the everton players got a bollicking and are so embarrassed that they go to the mackems and demolish them,they have the players to do that they just are not playing well,and if that happens hope watford want to end the season with a bang….a defoe injury would help like!!

Whoever takes the reigns at St. James Park next season is going to have a real job on their hands. IF indeed we do get relegated, our squad will be unrecognisable next season.

Seydou Doumbia’s loan will obviously come to an end. Gabriel Obertan and Sylvain Marveaux are out of contract and have already been shown the door. Steven Taylor is also out of contract and it’s unlikely he’ll be given a new deal, regardless of the division we’re in! United also need to decide on new deals for youngsters like Aarons, Mbabu and Woodman.

Another issue is those players who will only have 12 months left on their contracts come the start of next season. Those players are; Coloccini, Krul, Tiote, Anita, Cisse, Gouffran, Dummett, Rivière, Bigirimana, Ameobi & Vuckic. New deals will probably be offered to Krul and Dummett but most of them will probably leave.

The next issue is the “high earners”. Players like Janmaat, Townsend, Wijnaldum and Sissoko are unlikely to be playing in the Championship next season. The club may decide to keep a few, possibly Shelvey, Perez and Mitrovic? That remains to be seen.

Remy Cabella is on his way for around £6m, Florian Thauvin will likely follow. Other players that have made little impact, such as Siem de Jong, Massadio Haidara, Henri Saivet and Curtis Good are also under the spotlight.

So after all that hard work we will be left with the following players; Krul (If he signs a new deal) Elliot Darlow Lascelles Mbemba Dummett Colback Shelvey? Mitrovic? Perez? Plus a few Under 21’s; Armstrong, Sterry, Toney etc.

Quite a job to do it seems, with possible departures for more than 25 players! Will Rafa Benitez really want to take that on? Unlikely I would say.

The prize money is distributed at the end of the season. We are predicted to get £72m if we finish where we are. The merit element for final placings is comparatively small. It’s not the winning but the taking part that counts.

It’s easy to place the blame on players, but the truth is the vast majority of players we have signed over the years are simply no where near good enough technically or mentally. Hundreds of millions have been wasted by the club and it has finally caught up with us. The blame is 100% at Ashley’s door as he has penny pinched and gambled for years and when you add to that the fact that we have Charnley and Carr calling the shots I’m amazed it taken so long for us to be relegated.

As long as 50,000 rock up to SJP wearing their Wonga branded shirts nothing will change, you can try to kid yourself that you are supporting the team, but that team for the most part doesn’t have a single damn about the fans, they only care about the pay cheque as the majority will try everything to leave as soon as relegation is confirmed

Half of the leauge are on holidays, if you are so smart so bet and be a millionaire.. You are talking about professional footballers who have pride and earn insane amount of money.. Lukaku, barkley, baines, stones.. They have the players to do it!

toon barmy if rafa were to stay,i would assume there would be money available,and if he stayed there would be players who would be willing to think about staying because he has….loosing a lot of players might not be a bad place to start a revamp if there is a structure,funds and plan in place….lets face it we have papered over the cracks for so long its a major surprise this has’nt went tits up sooner

Refereeing decisions are regularly the source of debate among fans, pundits, players and managers so this season a five-strong TEAMtalk panel will be passing judgement on every red card (or avoidance of one), every penalty and any other major incident every matchday.

We’ll also keep a tally of the major decisions to go for and against each team in an attempt to settle the never-ending debate about whether certain clubs are favoured more than others by Premier League referees.

Here’s the six incorrect decisions which could yet cost United their top-flight status:

1. What should have been as 2-0 up rapidly becomes 6-1 down Manchester City 6-1 Newcastle United (October 3, 2015)

In some ways, this offside call was as bad – if not worse – than the Aguero one at St James’ Park, yet it quickly got forgotten about as United collapsed to a 6-1 defeat having controlled the game until just before half-time.

Aleksandar Mitrovic had put Newcastle ahead, and he slotted in a second after 25 minutes.

Daryl Janmaat had advanced down the right, and played it across the face of goal to Mitrovic – who was stood at five yards behind the Dutchman when the ball was centred – and the Serbian had it in the back of Man City’s net once again.

Incredibly, the offside flag was raised – and eventually Aguero netted five, and United capitulated.

The first of two controversial incidents within the space of 30 seconds at the Stadium of Light back in October.

With the scoreline at 0-0 after 44 minutes, Georginio Wijnaldum advanced into the box and flicked the ball around Lee Cattermole.

Not only did the ball hit Cattermole’s arm – a handball could have been given, but would likely have been harsh – the Sunderland defender then almost clotheslined Wijnaldum as he prevented the Newcastle midfielder getting past him.

springy —-villa have been poor of late but they put on a better defensive performance than normal. I know why its negative and yes it is out of our hands but it was out of sunderlands hands at 3pm yesterday afternoon -most were confident that if we could get a win we would be safe — fast forward 90 mins we are going down again and everyone on a downer thats how fast the mood and the situation can change .let me ask you a question , if scum get beat on wednesday , who do you fancy to stay up — us or the scum??

Sultan of Oman Qaboos bin Said Ascended throne in 1970 after overthrowing his father in a coup. He has an estimated net worth of $700 million. Avid classical music fan; personally financed restoration of mosques across the country.

Graduate of Britain’s Sandhurst Military Academy, served in British Infantry. Divorced with NO CHILDREN, succession plan is matter of much speculation.

stuart i expect the mackems to win unfortunately,hope they dont but when they have needed the results of late they got them, we have’nt by and large,my worry is if, like u say, the mackems get beat…1)watford are not good enough, like there form has showed and 2) can we do what is required against spurs,which we have’nt shown all season….it would be an utter disgrace if the unwashed were to lose there next two games and we didnt do enough to stay but can you honestly see us showing up and getting what we need when they could’nt do it against villa twice this season….im still hoping mate,i am but we are very reliant on the fortunes of others now when it should of been in our hands.

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health update

I was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer in February 2017 and completed four months of chemotherapy in late July and will continue to have hormone treatment.

The cancer spread in the bones but it has been stabilized and has not spread further.

I am still recovering from some of the side effects of the chemo treatment - it's mainly severe fatigue and exhaustion.

Stage 4 cancer is not curable so I will continue to have cat scans and bone scans every four months to ensure the cancer is not spreading.

It is as it is - these things happen - and I will do my very best under the circumstances.

Ed Harrison

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